There is much to learn when we look at the past. At the Niagara Falls City School District (NFCSD), we are diligently studying what worked during the 2021 – 2022 school year to help propel us forward in 2022 – 2023.

Let's take a look at our stellar 2021 – 2022 school year. Here are just some of the NFCSD's 2021 – 2022 accomplishments:

• The NFCSD installed Evolv Express®, a new state-of-the-art weapons detection system, at Niagara Falls High School (NFHS), Gaskill Prep, and LaSalle Prep Schools. Evolv Express® spots concealed weapons and other threats using advanced digital sensors and artificial intelligence. It can screen up to 3,600 people per hour, ten times faster than traditional metal detectors. This will keep students moving along quicker. Evolv is also portable and has been used at outdoor sporting events and graduation.
• Five hundred twenty-six (526) Niagara Falls High School (NFHS) students received their diplomas at Calandrelli Field. For the second year in a row, the ceremony was held outside, a new tradition born of COVID. There are five August 2022 graduates. One student graduated in January 2022. The remaining students who did not graduate on June 24 will receive further intervention and counseling. They will soon become alumni.
• Ten NFHS students graduated from the Junior Law Enforcement Academy
• The Niagara Falls City School District's LaSalle Prep School Robotics Teams rolled into Dallas, Texas, on May 7, 2022, for the VEX IQ World Robotics Championships and returned to Niagara Falls on May 11, 2022, with teams ranking 2nd and 3rd in the world! The LaSalle students competed against 800 teams from 40 countries with approximately 6,500 individual competitors and grabbed five of the top 10 placements.
• Niagara Falls City School District (NFCSD) students returned to the stage with the prep school theatrical production of Freaky Friday; our NFHS drama students presented exceptional performances of the play Clue and a musical tribute to the late Stephen Sondheim, An Evening of Stephen Sondheim. Students at Harry F. Abate Elementary added to the fun with Seussical the Musical as the District’s theatre program expanded to include elementary students.
• The District began serving Early Head Start and Head Start children on January 5, 2022. We started with 40 students and, in the first month, doubled our enrollment. 
• The District's trades program, in conjunction with Laborer's 91, the International Brotherhood of Electric Workers (IBW), Iron Workers Local 9, and the Cement Mason Union offers students the opportunity to earn the following certifications: OSHA -10  - 27 students earned certification in 2021 - 2022; Work Zone Safety  -  20 students earned certification in 2021 - 2022; Construction Math - 22 students earned certification in 2021 – 2022. Earning these certifications gives NFHS students an advantage in obtaining good-paying jobs in the construction trades following graduation.        
• NFHS' P-Tech program, where students take high school and Niagara County Community College (NCCC) coursework simultaneously and engage in industry-guided workforce development, has flourished. This year, 54 students signed up for the summer P-Tech program. The total number of students seeking degrees in industrial manufacturing numbers 106.
• 194 students received college credit from our partners at Niagara County Community College (NCCC), Niagara University, and Daemen College.

There is much to learn from the District's accomplishments in the 2021 – 2022 academic year. Our new programs were very successful, and programs still in place saw huge growth. I am excited to see what I will write about when the 2022 – 2023 school year is over.

Have a safe and enjoyable summer.  School opens on Tuesday, September 6, 2021.